I’ve hearing people asking lately, “What were Micah Johnson’s motives behind the shooting?”, “Why would he do such a thing?”, “Why would he go after the police?” Anyone who has been following stories of police brutality and murder of the innocent and unarmed for the past few years, shouldn’t be surprised at all by what happened in Dallas.
To make things abundantly clear, I’m not saying I agreed with what the shooter did. Besides the obvious, (murder and racial prejudice,) he didn’t even care which officers were clean or corrupt. The tragedy he caused took necessary attention away from the two police shootings prior, gave racists and cop apologists alike more fuel for their rhetoric, and gave actual corrupt police more cover behind unconditional sympathies and martyrdom from the public.
However, THIS is what happens when those in authority get caught dead to rights knowingly using unjust undue force, yet is never taken to trial, found not guilty in spite of the circumstances, or given a slap on the wrist, in FAR TOO MANY INSTANCES.
During those times, the apologists come goose stepping out from their cesspits to validate the officer’s/’ actions. They point to the victim’s possible criminal record, even if they were non-violent offenders or was doing nothing criminal at the time of confrontation. No criminal record, no matter! They’ll instead say that they deserved what they got because they weren’t following the police officer’s exact orders. If they were following the law or the police officer’s exact orders, then it’s because they weren’t giving the respect the officer deserved. If there’s a video, it doesn’t really exist, the story is all lies made by people who hate cops, and anything that makes the victim looks bad is true.
It’s not just the dark skin colors who face this injustice; the lighter shades of humanity (specifically the unwealthy) have been mistreated and killed by the police as well. Yet, every time those considered as minorities — specifically when they’re seen as black — gets beaten to a pulp or killed, the more racist elements join the fray. How often do you see racist and extremely skewed statistics and memes circulate the web to legitimize the killing of people considered white? How often do people downplay the cop-related murders of people considered white by asking, “Why don’t they talking about all the white-on-white crime?” or accuse critics of playing the “race card” or “Oppression Olympics”. Were statements like, “More whites are killed than blacks,” “The parents should teach their children respect,” or the racially ignorant “All lives matter” often made to downplay such cop-related murders? Injustice exists, but it is not spread across the board equally.
Not all blame can be given to a corrupted justice system, racists, and LEO bootlickers though. Part of the blame goes to people who act as if dialogue and protests are solely enough to elicit change. I’ve heard them blame Johnson for ruining any chance of change but let’s not kid ourselves. Talking and protesting brought no punishment to most corrupt policemen in the past. They escape justice and it becomes old news, until another cop kills an innocent and we go back to talking and protesting again. Raising awareness is good but we must try much harder to solicit any meaningful action; otherwise, we’ll be no better than the people who sit on their hands and do nothing at all.
Whatever actions we take, we certainly can’t depend on the racists and authoritarians because virtually nothing will ever change their minds. To them, #BlackLivesMatter is violent, racist and anti-police, Obama is weak on crime and encourages hatred of whites, the media is trying to incite a race war, and police are infallible demigods amongst mortals. Blue lives matter more to them than every other life. Law and chaos with them is either feast or famine; either let the police do whatever they want or cops will become “too afraid to do their jobs,” even though abuse and murder of the unarmed was never part of the LEO job description. THEY’RE NOT ABOVE THE LAW. PERIOD.
Out of the tragedy in Dallas, we’re currently being told to thank our law enforcement and trust them because it’s just 1% of the 1% are the bad apples. Yet not long ago, citizens protesting the two police shootings prior to Dallas have been arrested in Louisiana and Minnesota; some for violence but others for non-violence. (Usually, authorities and media won’t make those numbers clear.) How can we expect any worth changes, if we are treated like criminals for demanding not to be murdered for the slightest reasons? Can we expect any worthy changes, if the media is willing to give more coverage about dead policemen (individuals who knowingly take a deadly job [not one of the top ten in the U.S. though]) than dead unarmed and innocent civilians killed by cops? Can we expect any worth changes, if officials of the criminal justice system refuse to willingly out the corrupt?
When we can’t depend on the criminal justice system to deliver its promise of justice, when the response to such broken promises are the same reactions that didn’t work in the first place, then eventually desperate people will take matters into their own hands. I guarantee that if nothing different gets done to combat this mess, incidences like Baton Rouge, Minneapolis and Dallas will continue to happen.
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